The Once Red Rose
by neverendingstori
Summary: Miho has just moved to Domino City and is looking for a new life with her dad. Things look good at first but quickly turn into a tragedy. Come follow the tragic love story between the mysterious Seto Kaiba and this young girl. SetoxOC R#R!
1. Chapter 1

**Miho: So after being gone for an uber long time away from , I have decided to take up writing my old SetoxOC fanfics again. I kind of miss writing these old love stories and to be honest now that I'm done with school I have nothing but time on my hands to read and write them! So from one die-hard YGO fanfiction reader/writer to the next: ****please note that I do NOT own anything in this story but it's plot and my the characters of my own creation :3 thanks.**

**Chapter One: New beginning.**

I suppose now would be the right time to try and rethink everything I've done.

As I stand here on the edge of death, one would think I'd be scared but.. I'm not. It's cold, and it's raining. And every drop feels like another needle pricking my bare skin. If I wasn't about to die from the wound in my side then I guess I'd probably be left here dying from hypothermia. Funny, how it's taken me until just now to realize just how cold the world is. You'd think that I would have figured it out by now but… I guess that's what I get for being so optimistic. For being a dreamer.

We had such potential. We went through hardships and ridicule but that didn't keep us from loving each other. And then after waiting so long I finally get to hear you say "I love you, Miho," and then it all just comes crashing down before my eyes.

Tell me, my love, where did we go wrong..?

-----

----

---

--

-

_**Buzz. Buzz.**_

"Yeah, yeah I hear it!"

_**Buzz. Buzz.**_

"I said I'm coming! Jeez." Walking up to the door and flinging it open I look down to see what sort of annoying creature could be ringing my door bell so many times. Big green eyes look up at me from a small, pale, heart-shaped face with little blond curls framing it. It was the neighbor's little girl, Reena.

"Come to bug me about cookies again, Reena? My dad already bought four boxes, is that really not enough?" I asked as she gave me an innocent smile.

"Well we're always accepting money for more," she said in her high-pitched, little voice. "But no. Mommy and I were just wondering if you guys had any sugar we could borrow. Or have you not unpacked it yet?" she giggled looking around me at the boxes still in our living room.

"Yeah yeah, I'll go get it, come on inside," I stepped aside to let the blond little girl bound on in. We had only just moved into our new home last week, and already we have seemed to have another little youngster inviting themselves in every chance they get. In our last home (a small apartment in London, England) it was a short, little black-haired boy by the name of Evan. And now it's the bounding, bossy, curly-haired little English girl named Reena. If one didn't know any better, they'd think that my dad and I were pedophiles, but such was not the case. My dad just loved entertaining children; with magic tricks and silly riddles and jokes to keep them laughing all the time and begging for more. I guess he just misses having a youngster of his own to do tricks for. And since I'm all grown up he's felt the need to replace my lack of interest in his parlor tricks with every little tike he sees… Silly old man.

If you're royally confused, let me clear some things up for you: First off my name is Mihoah Xiare Moray. And my father's name is Geoff "Punk" Moray. My dad and I are constantly on the road since he is a musician and, being such, in constant need of money. Last year, around June I believe it was, my father decided that until his music career could take off he would have to settle with finding a permanent home and job.

I guess he thought that I didn't like having to start a new school all the time or maybe he just thought that moving around would be too much for me, but, on the contrary I actually loved traveling all the time. I got to see new places and meet new people. And after the fifth or sixth time, starting a new school became something casual. Living on the open road was my kind of thing. I hated being kept in one place for too long, and so did my dad. He and I are two peas in a pot.

But as I said, we needed the money. So, after a few weeks of sitting around our small kitchen table with a world map and a ghastly number of sticky notes, my dad and I set to work on finding a place to live. After making several hundred phone calls and debating back and forth on the perfect location, we finally found a small little house just on the outskirts of a city called Domino in Japan. We had never been to Japan before so we thought that it would be the perfect place to start our newest adventure. And what luck we had with this town! Three days after moving here, dad got his new job working as a desk clerk for some big-time gaming company called KC Inc. (Or at least that's what I call it. I've never actually heard the name of this company, and every time we get an e-mail or letter from them it's nothing but their company logo "KC Inc" in the top corner of the paper.)

So here we are! Two vagabonds made into working class in the matter of two weeks.

God, I hate it here.

"Hey! Little Reena!" I looked up from my daze to see Reena running and jumping into my dad's arms as if he was her own father. She smiled and giggled happily as she hugged him around the neck. "Did you come to see another one of my fantastic tricks?" He asked.

"No, mommy needs sugar!" She exclaimed, though you could see her eyes glimmer at the word "tricks."

I smirked as I turned around heading back for the front door, Reena and dad's voices blended in with each other as she chattered away about how she would come back to see a trick or two after she dropped off the sugar, and he, in return, encouraged her fascination by bribing her with promises of a new and amazing trick that "she had never seen in her whole life." I stifled a giggle at that one.

Donning my jacket I looked over my shoulder and shouted, "I'm off to try my luck again!" and walked out the front door. A muffled "Okay, see you later!" soon followed after it was shut.

Not long after dad got his job I decided it was high time I started looking for one too. I had never worked a job before since dad's music had always been just enough for us to get by pretty well. (If you counted buying fast food and cheap takeout meals getting by, that is.) And so my goal starting this week was to find a job. Part of me expected that I probably wasn't going to get hired as quickly as my dad did. In fact I'm still surprised they let that greasy, old, drunken monkey work in such a high-class building in the first place. Hell, I'm surprised they let him walk in! But if my old man can get a job, then so can I.

Or… So I thought.

Living on the outskirts of town meant very few job opportunities. And if there were any job opportunities they were just labor or house hold jobs for wealthy individuals, from mowing their lawn to asking for maids! I always rolled my eyes when I saw ads like those.

A maid job… What a stupid thing! Who would really actually _want_ to be a maid? All you do is stand around in gaudy maid uniforms and dust a few things in an already perfect house so your employer can sit around and get a boner from watching you all day. Oh yeah being a maid sounds like the perfect job! Comes with compensation and everything!

I sighed. Knowing my luck, that would probably have to be the kind of job for me to get: an easy one where I'm just tidying up an already neat house. Maybe I'd just look for a home with older residency, maybe work for a retirement home or something. I can stand old people. I actually kind of like old people; they tell wonderful stories about their past and so on. Yeah a job at an elderly household would seem nice. Old people live on the outskirts of town right? Maybe that's what some of those ads were for: An elderly persons' home.

Stopping at a street corner to look at lamp post I spot another 'maid's for hire' ad, only this one calls for a male maid. Funny. I always thought that male maids actually went by 'servants' rather than maids. What an odd country.

Oh yeah, if you're wondering why I'm able to read signs and ads even though I've only been living here a month, when I was younger, not long after my father started to move us around a lot, my dad started to home school me in our tour van. He taught me all sorts of things from English to a arithmetic. And after a while I started to teach myself things from research on the internet and books that we bought at cities we stopped in. And the one thing I was best as was learning other languages. So by the time I was fourteen I could already speak, read, and write in French, Spanish, German, Latin, and Japanese. This, in turn, was one of the reasons why my father and I moved here. After I learned a language, I always did my best to teach it to my father as well. Since he would be the one performing for a large number of people who spoke these languages and so it helped if he needed to get directions to the stage or needed help setting up his equipment.

But anyways, becoming a little disappointed by the ad, I decided to just continue my trek towards the city. I didn't really like that I would have to travel so far for a job, but we needed the money to help pay for our new house and to be able to eat everyday now as well as pay for bills and such. '_Since we're stationary now, things are going to be a lot tougher_' I thought. _'But we've been through tough times before so I know we'll make it… At least, I hope we'll make it. No… I shouldn't be so pessimistic. This is another adventure for us, my dad and I can surely make it here, just like we made it everywhere else! Yeah, we just need to work hard like we always do. Or I guess harder now since—_

"Oof!"

My thoughts were cut short as I ran into someone turning the corner. In surprise I looked up to see whom I had bumped in too and locked eyes with a pair of big purple eyes. I blinked and examined the rest of the face of the young boy on the ground in front of me. He seemed young, probably not over ten or twelve, and had enormously long black hair that was in disarray about his face and shoulders. His skin was lily-white, and clear, and he wore a orange shirt with orange and white stripes on the sleeves, with a pair of blue jeans and a blue handkerchief around his neck. What an oddly-dressed fellow…

The sound of other children heading towards drew my attention away from the tacky clothed kid in front of me and brought it back to that of my surroundings. There were three other, much larger and older looking boys headed towards us, each of them with their own set of features that made them distinctive from one another. Including their hair, which was each a different color: one red head, one brunette and one black (kind of like that of the boy in front of me but this one's was cut in a bowl shape and very short.) All of this aside, the one thing they did have in common was very annoyed looks on their faces.

The black-haired boy in front of me got off his feet and jumped behind me. '_Like that'll do you any good kid, I'm five-foot-three and one-hundred and fifteen pounds of nothing,' _I thought, but let him hide behind me anyways. Maybe my unnaturally red hair would scare them off, it seemed to do the trick to some of the other younger kids in our neighborhood.

But that's when I really noticed my surroundings. We weren't anywhere close to my neighborhood. My daydreaming before had lead me into a rather rich looking part of the suburbs, and gated lawns and large houses seemed to be everywhere in sight. These were rich youngsters, which meant they weren't scared of much. I looked back at the three young males who had now stopped in front of me and were panting; catching their breaths to speak.

"H-Hey lady, move out of the way, we need that brat behind you!" said the red-headed one in Japanese. I quickly took a glance behind me to the black-haired, tacky-clothed kid. He was hiding his eyes against my black leather jacket and holding onto the belt of it.

"And why should I move aside? I believe I have a right to stand here, just as you have a right to stand there with your friends." I responded back.

The red headed one seemed taken aback by my comment, so the one with the bowl-cut spoke up next. "Look we just want to talk to our friend, lady."

"Then talk to him. I don't see why you can't speak to him with me here." I folded my arms across my chest. I didn't have a tolerance for young kids with haughty attitudes and these three, at least from the looks of it so far, were nothing but brats with attitudes.

The black-haired kid behind me whispered to me quietly, "Please make them go away… I'll do anything you want if you do…" I rolled my eyes at the pathetic-ness of his plea.

"Look will you just move?!" The red headed one spoke again in a raised voice. "We gotta get our hands on that little brat! He's done nothing but get on our nerves at school so we think it's high time we teach him a lesson!" He pointed a finger towards my backside.

"Aww, sounds like a personal problem," I said calmly. I smirked; I was actually starting to enjoy this a little.

"You stupid bitch! Just get out of our way already!" shouted the red head.

I glared at him and sneered a little. But before I could let loose the string of profanities raising in my throat another voice cut me off instead.

"That's enough you three! Now get lost or I'll be contacting all of your parents!" My eyes being fixed on the red head as he, along with his friends, jumped and looked at the new speaker in surprise, I didn't see whom has spoken, but I could obviously tell it was a male. I watched as the three trudged off, none of them too happy with the situation, as the one with the bowl-hair kicked a rock as they walked down the side walk. When they turned the corner I looked up finally to see who had spoken.

My bright green eyes came in contact with an equally bright pair of blue-green eyes. The young man standing before me was, needless to say, tall, tan and handsome. He had strait blond hair and darker skin, and seemed to be wearing a very expensive looking suit. I blinked a few times, taken aback by how well dressed he was, and the fact that he didn't look Asian at all. In fact he looked very… American.

Was no one in this damn city actually Japanese? So far the only Japanese thing I had run into here was the language.

"I'm sorry for the trouble those three may have caused you miss," the young man said in very distinguished English. Ahh so he was American. Figures.

"No trouble," I shrugged, "just another day I suppose." I tried not to let him see that I was actually quite troubled indeed. But it was a different kind of troubled, you know the one where it's actually anger and you kind of feel like you want to punch a particular person in the face?

"Damian!" cried a small voice from behind me. I blinked and looked to my side just in time to see the black-haired boy bolt from behind me and run up to hug the one apparently named Damian.

"Yes, hello, Moukuba. Think I got here just in time?" to my surprise, Damian continued to speak in English to even the kid.

"Yes I am!" And this kid speaks English too? Well there goes the neighborhood… "But you didn't actually make it on time, but this lady did!" Moukuba turned to point at me.

I was really starting to hate being referred to as 'lady'. "I have a name you know," I mumbled.

"Well then let's hear it," said Damian in a very polite, and sophisticated tone.

"My name is Miho," I replied plainly.

"Well, Miss Miho—"

"Oh no, just Miho, please."

"Okay. _Miho_, I believe a thank you is in order," Damian stretched out his hand for me to shake it. Out of sheer politeness I stepped closer and shook his hand.

"No problem," I replied. _'I can't stand kids anyways; they annoy the living fuck out of me.' _Is what I actually meant. "Just gemmie a call if you need help again, kay kid?" I winked at Moukuba and he blushed, an expected reaction for a young boy of his age, but then smiled even wider than before. The familiar twinkle of an idea shown in his eyes and suddenly I wished I hadn't of spoken. My father always got a look like that whenever he had a—in his mind at least—wondrous idea, and whether that be the case here or not, all I knew was that I wasn't going to like whatever sort of nonsense flew out of this kids mouth next.

"I sure will! How would you like to be my body guard!?" announced Moukuba.

After it was said I think I can say with 100% assurance that I died a little inside. My blood turned cold, a chill went down my spine, and from the look on Damian's face I could tell the color had left my face. But when I replied with a jumbled mess of incoherent words and a few nonexistent ones, the huge smile that covered Moukuba's face, never left.

"Yeah! I'm serious! You didn't budge or get all ruffled up when those bullies came and trying to get you to move to get to me! And you didn't even yell or get all rough when they called you a 'bitch'!" He seemed pretty proud of that one. In all actuality I just hadn't had time to yell or get all rough with the kids because Damian came along. "*You're perfect body guard material!"

(A/N: *For those of you who don't know, body guards have to put with profanity, flying objects, crude language, and whole mess of other stuff all the time and are expected to keep calm and only use words—and mostly their stature—to intimidate people enough to get them to go away. This is what Moukuba means when he calls Miho "perfect body guard material.")

"N-now, Mister Moukuba, I really don't think that this is an appropriate thing to ask of someone you have just met," Damian said as he passed a few glances between me and the youngster.

Moukuba didn't seem to hear him, "Hey Miss Miho you looking for a job?"

"I—um, well—kind of? I was sort of heading into to town too—"I stuttered, still a little flabbergasted by everything that has just went down.

"Awesome then you're hired! How soon can you come over to my house for an interview?" Moukuba exclaimed in a joyous tone.

"Now master Moukuba! That is enough; you can't just go inviting people over to the Kaiba Mansion all willy-nilly!" Damian obviously disapproved of this.

Wait… _'Master'_!? Did that mean that—

"Shut up Damian! I'm the head of the house-hold while my brother is away so I can hire who I want for whatever I want! Now give her one of your cards so she knows where to come to tomorrow!" Moukuba said in a tone of authority. It wasn't demanding enough to be a bark, but you could tell that it was an order given by someone who, despite their age, have given orders to people before.

I was utterly stupefied. Not ten minutes ago I was looking around town for a place with kind elderly people to work for and help take care of as their maid but instead I get on-the-spot hired as a _bodyguard_ for a ten-to-twelve year old! The feeling of dizziness suddenly washed over me as everything around me started to get a little dark and blurry.

Damian sighed and took out a card from his breast pocket, turned it over and produced a pen from his left pant pocket and wrote on the back of the card. A quick motion he thrust the card towards me and bade me to take it.

With a shaking hand I did and looked at it. It read:

_**Damian A. Garrison**_

_**Coiffure and Concierge Consultant for **_

_**The Kaiba Estate in Domino City **_

_**5608 Kirraku Creek Lane **_

On the back was a set of numbers one of which I assumed was his telephone number and the second was the specific date and time that I was to arrive at the address tomorrow. After I had read all of that and turned the card back over my eyes focused on something on the card that I hadn't seen before and I squinted my eyes to try and make out what it was.

Meanwhile Moukuba and Damian had continued their argument in a more hushed voice. Only bits and pieces of their conversation reached my eyes as Moukuba pleaded in his already quiet voice and Damian responded back with a harsh whisper; obviously struggling to keep the conversation from reaching my ears as he didn't sound happy even from where I was standing. I looked up, giving up on trying to figure out the little symbol on the card (my eyesight had gone down slightly over the years and I had to wear contacts or glasses now if I were to read anything really small. Luckily everything else on the card had been in a relatively large font, bold and big enough for me to make out what it said.) Damian's face started to turn a little red and I could tell that the next thing that came out of his mouth was not going to be able to be kept in a soft whisper. So with that, Moukuba simply walked away from Damian and back up to me—who, mind you was still standing there in a stupor—and gave me the biggest, sweetest looking smile I think a kid of his age could have ever produced.

"So can you make it tomorrow, Miss Miho? I would really like for you to come," he said in a giddy tone.

I stuttered a little, unable to really make words and looked up at Damian for help, but he seemed to of given up and had turned his back to us and had occupied himself with a phone call on his cell phone. "Moukuba, I really don't know if… I mean I just don't think I'm bodyguard material little-dude," I said giving him an apologetic smile. If I wasn't so blown away by everything that had just occurred I'm sure my sentence would have come out more like this: _"Are you crazy? Why would I want to work for a little kid!? How do you even know what a bodyguard is!? And have you seen me? A strong wind could knock me off my feet!"_

But I'm sure even if I had said that, from the look on his face it wouldn't have fazed him. So I sighed and, without him even having to say anything I slipped the card in my pocket and said, "Yes I'll be there tomorrow."

"Yeppieee!" Moukuba jumped up and threw his arms around me giving me a big hug. I gasped for air and leaned back a little (I guess I thought I could get away if I did that, but it didn't work.)

Right then Damian got off the phone with whoever it was he had been speaking too and turned around to join me and Moukuba again. He sighed and said, "I just got off the phone with the head of security at Kaiba Corp and he says that he'll send someone to give her an interview and train her if she gets the job tomorrow. I have to say Master Moukuba; this is one crazy idea, if I've ever seen one."

"Aww, why did you have to call that grumpy old guy? Can't we just interview her ourselves? Do we really have to get Kaiba Corp involved?" Moukuba complained.

I blinked a little as they exchanged words, unfamiliar with this company that they were speaking of, and yet it rang a very faint bell in the back of my head. Something about that company name was familiar to me but I just couldn't quite figure it out…

"Yes, Master Moukuba, it is procedure for any employee working in the Kaiba Mansion to go through training by Kaiba Corp. After all it is Kaiba Corp that does the hiring and tells people where to go, _not_ individuals in the Mansion," Damian explained.

"Kaiba Corp _and_ the Kaiba brothers," Moukuba pointed out in a smug tone. He stuck his nose up to Damian, who in return glared until his face turned red again.

"Yes and the Kaiba brothers," Damian said through gridded teeth.

Suddenly I came to a realization why the name Kaiba Corp seemed so familiar to me. And when I did realize the wave of dizziness came back upon me and I found my surroundings getting even blurrier then they had before. Damian was the first to notice—at least from the sounds of it—when I started to totter and sway; the sudden feel of queasiness hitting me next as I became overwhelmed with dizziness and fell over onto the sidewalk. Moukuba and Damian's voices became a jumbled mix of panicked murmurs as I started to black out.

And just like that, for the first time in my life, I fainted.

**Thus ends chapter one! I know not entirely exciting but I tried to shake things up a little. Now for the dramatic cliff-hanger speech:**

_**A bodyguard? Really? And what's going to happen now that she's fainted at the feet of Damian and Moukuba? More importantly what will she do about tomorrow? **_

**Please Review and let me know what you think will happen in the next chapter but heads up: I like to put twists and turns in my stories :P Let me know what you thought by filling out a handy-dandy review and I'll answer any questions you may have at the start of my next chapter!**

**^w^ See you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Miho: Okay! So here is the much-awaited second chapter. Sorry it took me a while to get it posted, I've been a little busy :P But yes here it is.**

**As usual, I do not own anything related to YGO, just my own character and this story-line.**

……………………………………………………...................................................................................................

Chapter Two: I'm not sure what's happened yet…

I awoke with a fright; the cold sweat from my dream dotting my forehead. Looking around at my surroundings I noticed I was in my new room and that it was dark outside my window. _'I must have slept all day,' _I thought. But that explanation didn't feel right. So in a desperate attempt to ease my confusion, I scrambled to put my thoughts together.

As I mused over the day's events, I got up out of bed and stretched. My legs were sore; I had obviously been in bed for a while. Figures; that's just what I needed, a day wasted from searching for jobs. _'I guess dad will be handling the bills on his own for a while…,' _I thought.

_Jobs._ That word brought back images that I guessed were from earlier today. Trying to look past the haziness of them, I closed my eyes and sat back down on my bed, rubbing my temples and running my fingers through my hair. I recalled meeting a raven-haired boy, and his… servant? I guess you could call him that, Damian. But I felt like there was something I was forgetting… Something important that happened today that I should have recalled. I shook my head. No, it was no use. I wasn't going to remember it.

I stretched and got back up out of bed, giving up on trying to figure out whatever it was I was supposed to remember. (Not that I had really put forth an effort in the first place to remember.) Looking over at my clock, the little red numbers read: 11:02pm. Wow, I really had slept all day. I wonder why I had been asleep so long.

Walking out of my bedroom, I decided to scour the tiny house for my father. There were only so many places he could be (or rather _would be_ at this time of night), the kitchen, the living room, or his bedroom, asleep. Though, after walking past his room I decided to scratch that last option off since the ominous, and rather obnoxious, sound of his snoring wasn't filling the night just yet. I wonder how long our neighbors could put up with it before they came rushing in to put a cork in his mouth. (We had that happen to us one time when we were living next to a cranky old couple. The grandpa snored worse than my dad did, so I have no idea why his wife would feel the need to silence my dad rather than her husband.)

Anyway, after not seeing him in the kitchen either, I finally found him in our living room, unpacking some boxes and setting things here and there around the room. As I walked up to him he paused his unpacking to look at a picture in his hands. Looking around his should I could see his cheek lift in a smile as he stared at a picture of my mother.

It didn't surprise me he had paused to look at her photo. He did that quite often, though almost never around me. My father never wanted me to see how much he missed my mother but, after seeing him stare at her picture for long periods of time throughout the years, I had already figured that he missed her a lot.

If I haven't mentioned my mother before, it's because I don't usually like to talk about her. Now don't get me wrong, I have no quarrels with my mother, nor any rising hatred, or greater despair for her lack of presence in the majority of my life, just sadness and curiosity as to why she's not here. I have very little memories of my mother; she disappeared when I was four. Or at least that's how we like to think about it. There was no warning for her vanishing, as there never is in these situations. But the only thing that makes our case different is that she left a note for my father when she left. Anyone else would call that running away but… We choose not to think of it that way. I guess to make things a little better on our selves. The last memory I had of her was the one I thought the least on. It pained me inside to recall that night in my head; and when I did it always brought tears to my eyes.

Letting out a soft sigh my father put her photo off to the side and started rummaging through the box again. I guess the tears were starting to weld up for him as well. I looked down and decided now was not the time to ask about today's events and instead turned and silently went back down the way I had come. Sometimes it's better to leave people to their thoughts then to disturb them. After all, my dad has more memories of her then I could ever have… He would have more reason to want to be alone right now.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The next day…

When I woke the next morning, I felt like I was rising from the dead. I had obviously slept like a rock because my muscles were stiff and my box spring mattress, for some reason, felt like a cloud. I rubbed my eyes and looked at my alarm clock; it was exactly 10am. I yawned and let my face fall back into my pillow. You'd think after sleeping for so long yesterday I wouldn't be so tired.

"Ughh… I need to get up…" I groaned into my pillow. Although, getting up didn't really seem like it was going to happen at this point. Unlike my previous long hours of sleeping—restless and full of bone-chilling nightmares—this one was quite peaceful. I hadn't really dreamt of anything, at least not to my knowledge, and had somehow managed to sleep in one position all night. (Which was a feat for me, I usually toss and turn like the sea during a raging storm. I also tend to talk in my sleep, or at least I've been told.) But I concluded that I would indeed need to get up now. My stomach was making ravenous sounds and feeling it gurgling like it was felt weird to me.

The nagging feeling of "what am I forgetting?" never went away. I would have thought I could have remembered it by now, but I just couldn't figure out what it was… Getting up out of bed I stumbled out of my bedroom and into the kitchen. There was a note on the table written in my father's clumsy, quick scrawl:

"Miho,

Gone to work, I'll try to be home for dinner. There's some cold eggs in the fridge for you. Good luck job hunting today sweety, try to stop by for lunch! Also there's a card for you on the fridge that a nice man said for me to give to you when you woke up. Have a nice day!

--Dad"

That's what I had been forgetting! Duh! How could one possibly forget that they were brought home by some strange man yesterday? But of course! I rolled my eyes and looked over to the fridge and sure enough there was a business card pressed against the front door of the fridge with a big black magnet in the center of it. I snatched it off of the fridge, dropping the magnet in the process and put it into my pocket without looking at it. I would deal with the creeper's card in a minute, first I wanted food.

But apparently I wouldn't even get to eat because right as I opened the fridge the doorbell buzzed, demanding my attention. I sighed and let my eye twitch as it buzzed again before I finally shut the fridge and went over to the door.

Flinging it open, I looked ahead expecting to see some sales person there, when really there was no one—at least not at eye level. And right as I looked down at the tiny being, I was attacked by it as it hugged me tight around the waist and knocked me back onto the floor. A mass of black hair covered my upper body as I was assaulted by the young creature.

"What the hell!" I exclaimed as it started to nuzzle my boobs. "Can I help you!"

Just then it reared its head and a pair of vaguely familiar purple eyes met with mine as a young boy smiled at me and said proudly, "We've come to pick you up, Ms. Miho!"

My eye twitched.

"Master Moukuba! Will you stop harassing Ms. Miho so we can be on our way?" A yet another familiar voice said from the door. Of course by this point I didn't need to look to see who it was. All of my memories from yesterday had come flooding back to me the moment the kid looked at me, so I already figured that Damian had been here too.

'_So that's who dad meant by "a nice guy." –Sigh— Figures,'_ I thought to myself as Moukuba finally got up off of me and let me sit up. Damian offered a hand for me to take which I gladly did. Then he looked me over, blushed slightly and then looked away.

"Uhm.. Perhaps you wish to get dressed first before we leave, Ms. Miho," he said keeping his eyes away. I blinked and looked down at myself. Well I guess an odd morning wasn't complete without me standing there in the doorway in my very decent ensemble of boxer shorts, wrinkled tank top, and disheveled bed head. I happily took his advice and quickly went back to my bedroom.

The ride to… Well wherever this place was I was getting an interview was a bit awkward. Neither of us really talked. Moukuba excitedly hummed a tune as he messed with his game boy, Damian was—obviously—driving, and I was just sort of sitting there. I still couldn't believe I was being interviewed to be a bodyguard, of all things. After all, I was nowhere near bodyguard material; I was short, thin, my hair looked like I dyed it with blood, which could probably work I guess, if I was trying to make the people think I was an axe murderer. Didn't they hire from agencies for these sort of things?

I looked down at Moukuba who was still caught up in his video games. He was such a small thing, even for his age. Wouldn't he need someone bigger than me to protect him? What happens if they got through me? He would become an easy target for anyone. I mean he was a VP after all (or so he told me, personally I didn't really believe such a thing was possible for such a young tike.)

The car came to a stop—had we really been in the car for thirty minutes already? It felt like no time at all had gone by. Maybe it was because the ride had been so smooth. We were in the city now; had cars such moved out of the way for us? From all of my experiences in cities, there had always been traffic to deal with, especially during this time of day. What an odd place, Japan.

Damian was at our door in no time and Moukuba and I climbed out. All around me, the city was alive with shops, business, and busy people trying to follow busy schedules. Even the traffic was visible a little ways down the road. It seemed like a common enough city. Tall buildings towered above us and the term skyscraper came to mind as I looked up at them. However, none of them were quite as big as the one we were right in front of. A tall, glass-walled building seemed to reach for the heavens as it towered above all the rest of the buildings, though it's true height was skewered by a round dome-like ring around the top of it. I blinked, _'What an interesting design,'_ I thought. I had never seen such a building as this. The now familiar initials of KC were in the center of the building way up high and I wondered how much it must have cost to build a marvel as this. Surely with this wonder before me I would have heard of it before…

"Ms. Miho."

My attention was brought back to earth.

"Are you ready?" Damian looked at me with those intelligent green eyes and I nodded. He turned and led the way into the gigantic building.

It was even more awesome inside the building then it had been outside. It was quite spacious, with a large desk a good ways inside the automatic doors, cool air-conditioning, plants in even corner, elevators on each side of the main desk, each one trimmed with a thick band of gold; huge marble tiles lined the floor with a center piece design of a globe with the KC initials inside of it. Everything was grand and spectacular. Gold trimming everywhere you looked, people walking about in business suits. Everything was so… So…

"So expensive it makes me wanna gag," I said quietly under my breath. I was awed by the sheer amount of it all, yes, but none too impressed. I never usually was by expensive things.

"Miho?"

I looked ahead at the front desk where I heard my name called. My father stood there grinning at me like an idiot. I smiled back. A lady took his attention away from me and I smiled more, it was good to see him at work, though I'm sure he felt the same way as I did having to work in such a place as this. _"This place is crawling with so much wealth I feel like I'm going to suffocate!" _he would always say at a time like this. (And part of me didn't doubt that he probably had said it to himself when he first started working here.) But he had to work now, and I would have to worry about my father later.

Damian and Moukuba had started for an elevator and I followed quickly behind them. With so many people walking about, it would be easy for someone like me to get lost amongst them all, which made me wonder as to how Moukuba got about being as small as he was. Though when we reached the elevator people got out of our way and bowed to Moukuba saying, "Good morning Mr. Kaiba," in a formal way. I blinked; perhaps he had been telling the truth about being a VP after all…

The elevator ride was long and, like the car ride, quiet and awkward. The confidant smile on Moukuba's face never left, and Damian never seemed to stop looking ahead. I was looking all around, just like before, and taking in everything around me. I just couldn't get over how _expensive_ it all was. Like this company was just bleeding money! Again, with so much wealth one would think I would have heard of such a company before and yet I hadn't. It was mind-blowing to me.

When at last we reached are stop, we had gone up 42 floors, and still it didn't seem like we had reached the top. Apparently, we were actually only somewhere in the middle. Or maybe we were higher up than just the middle. I couldn't really tell, for I tried to look anywhere but the windows, being the scared-of-heights pussy I was.

Damian led me towards a pair of large mahogany double doors, which in front of stood two very large and very burly looking men in black suits. Real bodyguards. Their black sunglasses and bald heads seemed truly intimidating, and I felt as though they were sizing me up behind those heavily tinted shades. Had they heard why I was here? Were they laughing at me inside? Did bodyguards even laugh! I felt my head start to buzz again. What was I doing here? I didn't belong here! I belonged in some nice quiet house somewhere taking care of an old couple! Or maybe working behind some counter in a fast food place like normal teenagers! Not here!

I turned to voice my worry to Damian but he cut me off. "Now when they open the doors, Ms. Miho, you will walk forward and wait for them to offer you a seat. You do _not _sit down until they tell you to do you understand?"—I nodded— "good, now I wish you good luck, and remember: while they may seem intimidating, they are just interviewing you. Remember to breath also, you don't want to look blue in front of them." He patted my shoulder and I just simply nodded, dumbfounded and unable to actually produce a decent response, much less words at all.

I turned back around and listened to his footsteps fade away behind me. It was then I realized Moukuba had never even left the elevator. What no words of wisdom from the pipsqueak VP? Oh whatever shall one do! I rolled my eyes.

'_Well I suppose if my dad managed to get a job here…,' _ I thought, trying to comfort myself as I stood there patiently waiting for the doors to open for me. The two bodyguards didn't move, though part of me still wondered if they were sizing me up still. Surely they must know why I'm here… I'm sure if they did it would probably be an insult for them, having someone as frail and small as me trying out to be a bodyguard; one of _them._ Suddenly the vision of bullies surrounding a helpless child on a playground came into my head and I felt my stomach churn.

Suddenly the two bodyguards moved, and each reached for a door handle as they slowly turned them and opened the doors. Taking a deep breath I walked inside.

"Really?"

"Mhm, I know I can't believe it either."

"Huh.. Y'know I'm none too familiar with that Damian fellow, but I have to say, he is quite the clever one."

"Tell me about it," I took a big swig of the drink in my hand. My father wiped his mouth and took another big bite of his lunch.

"So you say he switched them before you arrived?" He asked looking at me inquisitively.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't really know. He could have done it when he made that phone call yesterday I told you about, while Moukuba was blabbing to me about being his bodyguard of all things." I replied as I stabbed a piece of dumpling mercilessly with my fork.

After my I was finally allowed to sit down in that large conference room, the panel of four, all of them were looking like they'd bleed dust if you slit their throats they were so ancient, quickly started the interview for the job. Although, I didn't actually realize that they were interviewing me for a different job until about halfway through the interview. At least this one was more suitably named then _bodyguard._

"Who'd a thought, my little girl a _nanny_ of all things for her first job! You do recall that you hate kids right?" My dad teased me.

"You do recall we have actual bills now right?" I shot back at him before I popped another dumpling in my mouth. I had a feeling he was never going to let this one go.

He chuckled and took a moment to lean back in his chair before crossing his arms and smirking at me. "So when do you start?"

"Tomorrow," I replied simply. _Yeah, tomorrow at bloody seven o'clock in the morning!_ What an ungodly hour to be awake. I wiped my mouth and leaned back too, staring down my father.

He just kept his smirk and said, "I give it about a month before you slit that poor boys throat."

I rolled my eyes, "I give it a week…"

"Come, come, now love," my father reached across the table and patted my shoulder. "A job's a job, and we all must do our part now. Just try to keep your temper down, keep patient, and just keep him busy. If you do that he'll be out of your hair for most of the day. Surely you won't need to keep young Kaiba entertained every waking hour. And besides, you get fed good meals, paid well, and get to stay in a fancy house all day. What more could you want?" he said trying to cheer me up.

I scoffed.

"Mhm… Well think of it this way, Miho, you could be working my job," he gave me that look of _I've-got-you-with-this-one._

I smirked a little and said "That's true. I could be stuck in a monkey suit like you all day," I laughed a little.

"God, this bloody thing itches… You'd think they'd let me wear something more comfortable," He said, pretending to sound angry and hurt. I laughed again and my laughing made him smile and take my hand. "My Miho, you'll do fine. Now why don't you go home and enjoy your last day off before you have to be whisked away to some stuffy old mansion for the rest of your days!"

I laughed a little once more and squeezed his hand. "Haha, will do dad. Go enjoy the rest of your day telling people what floors things are on," I joked.

He smiled and we stood, still holding my small hand in his large one as he leaned forward and kissed my forehead before giving my hand one more squeeze and then walking away out of the restaurant and back across the street to the spectacular building with the glass walls.

Funny how you never truly see how true someone's words can be at the time their said to you. But now that I look back on it all, my dad had been right all along about his comment he had made that day. I just wish that I could have known at the time how true his words were. It had seemed like such a little thing to say back then… Where things really so calm then? So natural and without drama as things were now? I wish I could say things were calm now but…

If I had known dad would be right about what he said… Would I have gone back and changed things? Quit this job before it started and gone to work somewhere else? No… I don't think I would. Yes there are some things I would have changed some things here and there, things that led to the mess we're in now but, then again now that I think about it I don't think I would have even changed those things. Those horrible, horrible things… Even those horrible things brought us closer together… And yet I still sometimes sit here thinking to myself: If only I had known at the time…

If only I had known that that one day of confusion and mess would set my life down this broken path lined with gold.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

**And thus ends another chapter! And in case you romance-seeking readers are wondering where our favorite CEO is, don't worry, he will make his grand appearance soon enough. And don't be fooled by the dramatics of those last few paragraphs, for the final sentence of this chapter gives a clue to upcoming chapters…**

**Be sure to R&R! I love to hear what you think!**


End file.
